Christmas Cookies
by Ailetoile
Summary: One shot, SasuNaru fluffiness. Christmas is a time of giftgiving and Naruto is struck speechless twice in one day. My last fic sucked so you get a new one now :)


A/N: Ahh... Well, this was originally supposed to be written for the food challenge in the livejournal sasuxnaru community. Obviously that didn't work since it's like three weeks late, but I like it nonetheless. Those of you who enjoy the pairing should check the community out. Incidentally, I am Jewish. And writing about Christmas cookies. I'm a bad Jew! =)  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
............  
  
It was that time of year again. Christmas: a time of love. A time of caring. A time of giving. A time of friends and family and a heart full of warm emotions. Naruto, having never had either friends or family, was completely and utterly oblivious.  
  
Well... Not completely oblivious. The general spirit of the holiday season had not been entirely lost on him. He was well aware of the change in everyone's demeanor around this time of year. Every December, the general hatred and anger that haunted him seemed to be temporarily diminished. The eyes that always followed his every movement, that practically begged him to make just one wrong move, seemed a touch less cold. For a month each year, he received a blessed respite from the constant reminders of the demon that he carried inside him.  
  
Beyond that seasonal tolerance, though, he had never received so much as a sincere holiday wish. Or an insincere holiday wish, for that matter. He gave nothing and he received nothing in return; he simply continued his normal day-to-day existence and relished in the diminished abuse while it lasted. He had never known anything different.  
  
It therefore came as a surprise to the boy when his beloved Sakura-chan arrived at their traditional meeting place one blustery December morning and unceremoniously shoved a small, wrapped box into his hand, muttering something about them being teammates after all. The pink-haired girl immediately flounced over to their other teammate, oblivious to the very stunned and very confused Naruto she had left in her wake. What was she giving him this for?  
  
Reverently, for this was the first gift he had ever received, he unwrapped the smallish box, taking care to keep the decorative paper as pristine as possible. He could not help the smile that took over his face, brightening his eyes. The gift was simple enough: a palm-sized money pouch that had been fashioned to resemble a cute little frog. Naruto was touched, but he still could not understand what had prompted this uncharacteristic show of kindness from Sakura. It was not his birthday - not that he received anything then, either - and he was unaware of any other time when gifts were traditionally exchanged. For once in his short, obnoxious life he was rendered speechless. What did one say when they received a gift, anyway? Uncertainly, he glanced up at the other two members of his team.  
  
Sakura wore a pleased smile as she stood before Sasuke, who eyed the package she was offering him with a baffled expression. Finally, as the blonde watched, Sasuke reluctantly accepted the offering and removed the colorful paper with as much precision as Naruto had used before peering inside. The taller boy's eyebrow raised slightly, the slight movement belying his surprise as he began to inspect the contents of the box. Curious, Naruto edged closer to the pair until he, too could see what his Sakura-chan had given to Sasuke.  
  
Sasuke's gift was, as could only be expected, more elaborate than Naruto's had been. As the Uchiha boy shuffled through the box, Naruto caught a glimpse of several red and white candy canes, each of which had a decorative green bow tied around the hook, drowning in a small sea of colorful tissue paper. From the jungle of peppermint goodness and crinkly paper, Sasuke quickly extracted a painstakingly folded bundle of tissue paper which protected a carefully framed picture of their team. Sasuke regarded the picture silently before turning his inquiring gaze to Sakura.  
  
"Merry Christmas," she chirped, obviously relieved that the dark-haired boy had accepted her gift.  
  
Instantly, Naruto melted. Sakura-chan had remembered him on Christmas? It made no difference to him that Sasuke's gift had obviously been given much more thought and care; all that mattered was that someone had cared enough to acknowledge him. That that someone had been Sakura-chan touched him deeply.  
  
This rare moment of peace and tentative camaraderie was shattered by the unusually timely arrival of their sensei. Kakashi's traditional smile, that lopsided, one-eyed ghost of a hidden grin, was complimented this morning by a precariously tilted Santa cap whose fluffy white poof hung jauntily over the jounin's covered eye. Indeed, the hat combined with the normally wild gray hair which was sticking out even moreso than usual proved to be quite an amusing sight to the three children of team seven.  
  
Training that day was lighter than usual. Kakashi claimed that it was his gift to his team, and although none of them truly believed him, they were grateful for the reprieve. When he released them several hours early and disappeared at once, no one complained. In fact, no one said much of anything for a few moments after Kakashi's abrupt departure. Apparently, their sensei's eccentricity was multiplied during the holiday season.  
  
Soon, though, Sakura opted to leave as well, eager to spend the rest of the holiday in the company of her family. The two boys exchanged a wordless glance before heading off in their own separate directions, each carrying his unexpected gift. Empty or not, home was better than standing in uncomfortable silence out in the cold, although Naruto knew that he would return to the training grounds after he had eaten and deposited his gift in the relative safety of his apartment.  
  
The walk home seemed unusually short that afternoon. The entire way, the blonde could not help but gaze at the money pouch Sakura-chan had given him; it was the first gift he could ever recall receiving and he absolutely adored it. At last, Naruto reached his apartment and immediately began to putter about the kitchen, setting a kettle of water on the stove to boil as he raged his nightly internal debate to decide which flavor of ramen would grace his stomach as tonight's dinner.  
  
Four cups of ramen later, finally sated, the boy slowly began his trek back to the training grounds. There was no way that he would ever become skilled enough to surpass the hokage unless he trained to his fullest every day. Not even Christmas was a valid excuse for a respite.  
  
It was not often that he had company during these late night training sessions, and tonight seemed to be no exception. Naruto rather suspected that most of the village was at home enjoying the holiday with their friends and families. Had he known what it was to spend time with his loved ones, he might have felt a pang of jealousy at this exclusion; instead, though, he pushed away the vaguely hollow feeling he got whenever his thoughts wandered down that path and concentrated on the tree in front of him. His chakra control had improved considerably over the last few months but he would not let himself rest until he had conquered the trees at a walk - not a run.  
  
This sort of training was hard work, even for someone with as much stamina as he possessed. Every inch he managed to climb meant that his inevitable impact with the ground when he fell would be that much harder. It was while he was recovering from one of those falls, grumbling to himself and rubbing an aching lump on his head, that he realized he was no longer alone.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he asked the boy who materialized out of the shadows. Sasuke's had taken to making an appearance every few evenings while Naruto trained. They would rarely acknowledge each others' presence let alone speak; they simply went about their training and ignored one another completely, but the sense of camaraderie, of not being so ALONE all the time was somehow comforting to the blonde. Still, he was mildly surprised to have Sasuke's company this night. It was, after all, Christmas Eve. Although the Uchiha boy did not have any more family than Naruto did, the blonde had still somehow assumed that he would have somewhere to go or someone to be with.  
  
Sasuke ignored Naruto's question, frowning slightly at the blonde for an uncomfortable moment before looking away. "Hn. I thought I'd find you here, dobe."  
  
"Yeah?" Naruto prompted, thoroughly taken aback by this unexpected conversation from the normally reticent Sasuke. "Where else would I be? I train here every night. You know that."  
  
"I was going to give you this earlier," the raven-haired boy continued, ignoring the blonde's interruption, "but it seemed inappropriate since I had nothing for Sakura." Before Naruto could decipher what his teammate was talking about, the taller boy had marched forward and shoved a lumpy plastic bag into his hands. No, upon further inspection, Naruto realized that the package itself wasn't lumpy; it contained cookies which, by their irregular and slightly burned appearance were obviously homemade. For the second time that day, the show-offy, hyperactive, number one loudest ninja in Konoha village was left absolutely speechless.  
  
"My mother used to bake cookies at Christmas and I like to keep tradition alive. There were some extras this year," was the mumbled explanation as wonderfully wide and inquisitive blue eyes were turned upon Sasuke. "I didn't have enough for both of you..." He trained off as he realized that Naruto was not listening to a word he said. "What?"  
  
"Thank you, but... I don't have anything for you," the blonde blurted out, fidgeting in trepidation. "I didn't know to get presents for anyone."  
  
Sasuke dismissed this concern with a curt shake of his head. "This doesn't mean I like you or anything. You're still an idiot, dobe." His heart just wasn't in the insult tonight, though. Naruto could tell. A smile crept over the blonde's lips.  
  
"And you're still a bastard." Jokingly, he made as if to fling the cookies back at his teammate, then frowned and lowered the package to a less menacing position as he saw the Uchiha boy flinch ever so slightly. This, even moreso than Sakura's gift was precious to him. Unlike the pink-haired girl, Sasuke had not simply included Naruto as an afterthought. He had put thought and care into actually making him something. He had been honest and Naruto would respect and cherish that honesty. So this was what Christmas meant...  
  
"So we understand each other, then." It wasn't a question.  
  
"Perfectly." Without another word, Naruto turned his attention back to the tree, continuing his interrupted training and allowing Sasuke to do as he pleased.  
  
And if it was coincidence that the two boys ended their training at the same time that night -  
  
And if it seemed odd that they meandered back to the village together and lingered just outside Naruto's apartment for several minutes before exchanging a clumsy hug -  
  
And if Naruto's apartment seemed just a touch more empty than he was used to and if Sasuke's walk home seemed just a tad more lonely than normal -  
  
Well, there was no one there to witness any such anomalies on a cold Christmas Eve in Konoha village. And no one could blame two lonely orphans for finding each other on a lonely December night. 


End file.
